Consumers will spend $22 billion on checking malware attacks this year, with investment by companies expected to touch a whopping $114 billion in dealing with such malicious software, according to a study.

The study conducted by market research group IDC and commissioned by Microsoft Corporation, pointed out that the chances of infection by unexpected malware were one in three for consumers and three in 10 for businesses.

Malware or malicious software is aimed at damaging or disabling computers and computer systems.

According to a release by Microsoft India, "Consumers will spend 1.5 billion hours and $22 billion identifying, repairing and recovering from the impact of malware, while global enterprises will spend $114 billion to deal with the impact of a malware induced cyber attack."

It added, that though some computer users might actively seek pirated software in hopes of saving money, the chances of infection by unexpected malware stood at one in three for consumers and three in 10 for businesses.

According to Microsoft India director, Sumeet Khanna, software was pirated in order to save money, however, the reality was that with pirated and counterfeit software, the user ended up paying for malware, Trojan, adware and other harmful viruses."